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IceDogs goalie Visentin earns second chance at gold

Mark Visentin, who was in net for Canada during the disastrous final period of the gold-medal game at last year&rsquo;s world junior hockey championship, was one of four Niagara IceDogs invited Monday to the selection camp for the 2012 tournament.

Forward Quinton Howden of the Moose Jay Warriors dons a jersey and team cap after being named to the roster for Canada's 2012 national junior team selection camp on Monday in Calgary. (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By Daniel GirardSports Reporter

Mon., Nov. 28, 2011

Mark Visentin has taken the first step on the road to redemption.

The Niagara IceDogs goalie, who gave up five unanswered goals in the third period as Russia overcame a three-goal deficit and stunned Canada 5-3 in the gold-medal game of last year’s world junior hockey championship, has been invited to the selection camp for the 2012 tournament in Alberta.

The 19-year-old Phoenix Coyotes prospect from the Hamilton community of Waterdown was one of four goalies named Monday to the 41-player roster for the camp to be held Dec. 10 to 14 in Calgary. Twenty-two will make the team.

“We’re not here for revenge. We’re here to win the gold medal,” Visentin said in an interview. “What happened last year, happened last year.

“We’ve moved on. We have a new focus this year and it’s just to go and win. It doesn’t matter who we play.”

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Canada opens the 2012 IIHF world junior championship on Boxing Day against Finland in Edmonton. The 10-team tournament wraps up on Jan. 5 with the bronze- and gold-medal games at the Saddledome in Calgary.

Visentin, who leads the OHL this season with four shutouts, is one of three members — all 2010 first-round draft picks — of the team that won silver in Buffalo. Forwards Quinton Howden of the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors and Jaden Schwartz of Colorado College have also been invited back.

Visentin, who had a 2.01 goals-against average and .923 save percentage in the 2011 tournament, is one of four IceDogs invited to the camp, the most from any one team in the CHL. He’s joined by brothers Dougie and Freddie Hamilton as well as Ryan Strome, the fifth overall pick by the Rangers in June.

“It’s a big feat for the team here,” Visentin said of the four IceDogs. “It would be great if we could all make the team. It would be a dream come true.”

A total of 15 players from the OHL are invited to the camp, one fewer than the WHL. Eight are from the Quebec league and two are at U.S. colleges.

All but five of the 41 players have been drafted into the NHL. Those eligible for this year’s draft include 17-year-old Cody Ceci of the Ottawa 67’s and 19-year-old Tanner Pearson of the Barrie Colts, the OHL’s leading scorer.

Noticeably absent from the roster is Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors defenceman Stuart Percy, a 2011 first-round pick, 25th overall, of the Leafs.

But Brad Ross, a Leafs second-round pick, 43rd overall, in 2010 was called.

Hockey Canada can still expand the selection camp roster if NHL teams make their tournament-eligible players available. They include Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers, Ryan Johansen of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Philadelphia Flyers’ Sean Couturier, Florida Panther Erik Gudbranson and former St. Mike’s Major Devante Smith-Pelly of Anaheim.

The roster

GOALIES

• Tyler Bunz, Medicine Hat (WHL)

• Louis Domingue, Quebec (QMJHL)

• Mark Visentin, Niagara (OHL)

• Scott Wedgewood, Plymouth (OHL)

DEFENCEMEN

• Nathan Beaulieu, Saint John (QMJHL)

• Cody Ceci, Ottawa (OHL)

• Mathew Dumba, Red Deer (WHL)

• Jérome Gauthier-Leduc, Rimouski (QMJHL)

• Brandon Gormley, Moncton (QMJHL)

• Dougie Hamilton, Niagara (OHL)

• Scott Harrington, London (OHL)

• Brenden Kichton, Spokane (WHL)

• Joe Morrow, Portland (WHL)

• Ryan Murphy, Kitchener (OHL)

• Ryan Murray, Everett (WHL)

• Jamie Oleksiak, Saginaw (OHL)

• Alex Petrovic, Red Deer (WHL)

• Mark Pysyk, Edmonton (WHL)

FORWARDS

• Michaël Bournival, Shawinigan (QMJHL)

• Brett Bulmer, Kelowna (WHL)

• Phillip Danault, Victoriaville (QMJHL)

• Phillip Di Giuseppe, University of Michigan (CCHA)

• Michael Ferland, Brandon (WHL)

• Brendan Gallagher, Vancouver (WHL)

• Freddie Hamilton, Niagara (OHL)

• Quinton Howden, Moose Jaw

• Jonathan Huberdeau, Saint John (QMJHL)

• Boone Jenner, Oshawa (OHL)

• Mark McNeill, Prince Albert (WHL)

• Tanner Pearson, Barrie (OHL)

• Zack Phillips, Saint John (QMJHL)

• Ty Rattie, Portland (WHL)

• Max Reinhart, Kootenay (WHL)

• Brad Ross, Portland (WHL)

• Mark Scheifele, Barrie (OHL)

• Jaden Schwartz, Colorado College (WCHA)

• Ryan Spooner, Kingston (OHL)

• Mark Stone, Brandon (WHL)

• Ryan Strome, Niagara (OHL)

• Christian Thomas Oshawa (OHL)

• Tyler Toffoli, Ottawa (OHL)

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